Drawer construction



' p 6,1958 M. A. H. AAMO DT 2,852,027

DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Original Filed May 20, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR MART/N A. H AAMODT AGENTS Sept. 16, 1958 M. A. H. AAMODT 2,852,027

DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Original Filed May 20, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J w Ml IN VENTOR MAR'F/N A. H AAMODT /asslau X410 AGENTS DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Martin A. H. Aamodt, Oslo, Norway Original application May 26, 1950, Serial No. 163,126. and this application March 27, 1956, Serial No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 12916) This invention relates to improvements in drawer constructions, and more particularly to expansible drawer constructions.

Drawers constructed in accordance with the invention are especially suited for use in filing devices employing card-dividing elements as disclosed in co-pending application Serial No. 163,126, filed May 20, 1950, of which the present application is a division.

However, drawers of this invention can be used separately from these card-dividing elements and no limitation is intended to the use of such drawers only in combination with such card-dividing elements.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved drawer construction the elements of which provide an expansible base.

The invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawing where Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of one of the carddividing elements.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of a control card having a card-dividing element visibly attached to the card.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational View showing a control card having stamped out slits to receive the attachment means of the dividing elements.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a control card with the attachment means of a dividing element visible, while the elements located on the rear side, are indicated by dotted lines.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a card-dividing element similar to that of Fig. 1, but constructed according to another embodiment of the invention and having attachment means thereon intended to be dismountably located in the carrying surface, or bottom of the filing drawer, independently of any control cards.

Fig. 6 shows the card-dividing element of Fig. 5 as seen from the end of the drawer, and where the dismountability of the attachment means is indicated by dotted lines making it clear that the two grippers (legs) can be separated from the guiding member by being pressed together.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a bottom element, channel-shaped and having projections and recesses intended for being interconnected with the respective projections and recesses of adjacent bottom elements of the same construction and showing an opening for the inserting of the card-dividing elements.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an auxiliary element intended for being fastened to the bottom at the middle of the drawer, for connection to the bottom elements of Fig. 7 disposed at either side thereof.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a connecting section intended for connecting the bottom elements at the opposite ends of the drawer to the pivots mounting the outwardly swingable end-walls to the so-called inner envelopes or drawer halves which are slideable toward and away from each other in the assembly of Figs. 10 to 13.

States Patent h QQ Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a portion of an assembly of bottom elements (with the card-dividing elements, cards, and partition plates between sections removed) and shown embodied in a file-drawer constructed according to the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a displaceable partition plate for insertion between sections, shown swingably and displaceably mounted on the projections of one of the bottom elements of Fig. 7.

Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional view of the drawer assembly.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the drawer assembly of Fig. 12, showing in greater detail the joint connection between one end wall and the slideable side walls of the drawer.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and initially to Figs. 1 to 4 thereof, a card-dividing element, there shown and indicated by the numeral 1, is made of an ultra thin spring strip in which are stamped out three oppositely bowed card-dividing spring elements 2 in the shape of curved strips, which are connected together at their opposite ends, and in such manner that the dividing springs, when contracted will lie in one plane to occupy a space no greater than that required by a single thickness of the material. In the lower section of the dividing elements are provided two oppositely directed tabs 3 serving as releasable fastening means, in connection with slits provided in control cards (Fig. 3), and which, guided by the central one of the spring elements 2, are dismountably attached to the controlling-card as shown in Figures 2 and 4.

Numeral 6 indicates a stamped-out groove or slot provided in the control card and having two tongues 7 extending toward each other (Fig. 3) so that the slot 6 is narrow at the center and relatively wide at its opposite ends. Below the groove 6 are stamped out two parallel slits 8. Inserting of the dividing element is made in such a way that the spring element 2 located in the middle, is pressed into the groove 6, and held therein by the tongues 7, while the tabs 3 are sprung together and slipped into the slits 8, whereby the dividing element will be releasably mounted fiat on the card without bending or folding, and with the spring elements 2 yieldably projecting away from the opposite sides of the card, as shown in Figures 2 and 4.

This special design of the spring and attachment devices of the card-dividing element from a single piece of material having a uniformly small thickness avoids the occurrence of relatively thick structures between successive file cards, requiring unnecessarily large space, because the card-dividing elements, as will appear from the drawing, will each be located in a single plane when the cards are tightly packed.

The card-dividing or separating element according to Figs. 5 and 6 provides for directly and removably mounting the same in the carrying surface, or file drawer bottom without the use of a control-card, and is intended to be employed in cases where such cards are not required, and therefore may be omitted and thereby obtain the advantage of having a correspondingly greater number of entry cards. For that reason the band or strip of spring material is, on the lower part thereof, stamped out in the form of two legs 10 having notches 11 at their outer edges for receiving the plate edges at opening 15, as indicated by 12, in a manner to loosely hold the card-dividing element to the supporting plate while the spring elements 2A-C are the same as those shown in Fig. 1. It is the object of this type of card-dividing element in certain cases to be able to increase the number of the cards carrying filed or indexed information at the expense of the elimination of control-cards, in

cases where these cards are not absolutely necessary for the operation of the filing system. In this connection it is of vital importance that the dividing elements can be inserted or taken out from above, without interference from the set of file cards. Such inserting and dismounting of the element of Figs. 5 and 6 may be achieved by pressing together the legs 10, whereby the notches 11 are disengaged from the plate edges 12' at opening (Fig. 6).

The expandable carrying surface constituting the bottom of the file drawer is formed by a series of elements 13 (Fig. 7) in connectionwith the element 14 (Fig. 8). Each element 13 is channel-shaped and is formed with projections 17 extending from one side and recesses 16 at the opposite side thereof. Each projection 17 has a downwardly extending. fiange along its outer edge dimensioned to extend loosely into the related recess 16 of an adjacent bottom element 13. In order to lock the flange 20 of one element 13' within the recess 16 of the adjacent element 13, each recess is provided with an enlargement or notch 18 at one end adapted to resufficient width to permit the flanges 20 to slide therein.

for relative movement of the elements 13 toward'a'nd away from each other.

The bottom element 14v shown in Fig. 8 is secured to the base plate in the middle of the drawer (Fig. 10), by means of rivets indicated at which pass through holes 41 at the opposite ends thercofi.

jections, and is formed instead, with recesses 16 on either side similar to those described in connection with the element 13. Thus, as shown in Fig. 10, the elements 13 may be connected to each other in two groups arranged in front and in back of the central or fixed elements 14, and the elements 13 adjacent the latter are connected to the fixed element by engagement of their flanges 2t within the recesses 16 of the fixed element. Elements 13 as well as element 14 are in their central parts provided with recesses or openings 15 for receiving and guiding the dividing elements, shown in Figs. 5 and 6, along the plate edges 12.

In Fig. 10 is shown part of the bottom assembly in a file drawer with the file cards, card-dividing elements and partition plates between the sections removed, the elements 13 at the right of the fixed element 14 in Fig. 10 being shown in an expanded position and the elements 13 at left of the fixed element being shown in a contracted position.

The file-drawer includes outwardly swingable endwalls 31 which are swingably mounted on pivots or hinge pins 39 carried by the side walls 33 of U-shaped channel members 35 constituting drawer halves and slidable toward and away from each other within the outer drawer structure 34.

The outer drawer structure 34 (Fig. 12) is also in the form of a U-shaped channel member and has the sides thereof reverted inwardly and downwardly, as at 36, to extend over and encompass the side walls 33 of the drawer-halves 35.

The end ones of the bottom elements 13 are each connected to the hinge pin 39 at the adjacent end of the file drawer so that the bottom will expand and contract in response to the movements of the two drawerhalves 35 away from and toward each other, respectively. Such connection to the hinge pins 39 is preferably achieved by links 21, one of which is shown in Being a. centrally located element, the element 14 needs no pro 4 Fig. 9. The link 21 is in the form of a flat plate, rolled at one end to provide a barrel 23 for receiving the related hinge pin 39 and having a flange 2012 at the other end having a tab 1% at one side for locked reception within the recess 16 of theend bottom element.

Fig. 13 shows the actuating connection between the end-wall 31 at one end of the file drawer and the adjacent slidable drawer-half 35. A connection rod or link 24 is connected with a bell-crank or lever 22 at 27 and with the slidable side-walls 33 at 28. The end-wall 31 swingably supported at 39 has a slot 40 formed therein and one of the arms of the bell-crank 22 is furnished with a pin 29 which slides in the slot 40.

The bell-crank 22 is pivoted on the outer drawer 34, as at 32, so that when the end wall 31 is swung outwardly, the related slidable drawer-half is drawn out of the outer drawer 34 and away from the other drawer half. By reasonof the connection between the pin 39 and the elements 13 provided by the links 21, such movement of the drawer-halves 35 will, as previously indicated, affect the expansion of the various bottom elements and the opposite will be true when the end Wall 31 is returned to a vertical position.

Fig. 11 illustrates the manner in which separating partitions, such as those employed for separating various sections of the filed matter, may be mounted. The partition 37, there shown, is provided with transverse slots 38 located near the bottom edge thereof to receive the projections 17 of one of the bottom elements so that the partition may swing and move longitudinally on said projections to facilitate access to the filed material.

In setting up the filing drawer embodying the present invention, partitions 37 may bemounted in the drawer as described above to separate the various units or departments of the filed material which may be carried on file cards or in file envelopes. Dividing elements, which may be of the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4, or of the form of Figs- 5 and 6, are inserted between the successive file cards or envelopes. When the file-drawer is longitudinally contracted, the oppositely bowed spring portions 2 of the dividing elements are urged into the same flat plane so that the minimum amount of drawer space is then occupied by the dividing elements. When the drawer is expanded longitudinally, by outward swinging of the end walls 31, the bowed spring portions 2' of the dividing elements separate the successive file cards or elements so that the latter may be viewed conveniently from above. Since the bowed spring portions 2 of each dividing element are connected together at their opposite ends, there are no loose or projecting ends to interfere with the insertion or removal of the file cards or envelopes.

There will now be obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications and variations utilizing the principles set forth and realizing many or all of the objects and advantages of the circuits described but which do not depart essentially from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A file drawer comprising U-shaped telescopic sections'op'en at the top for holding filed cards visible from above, collateral bottom elements in said sections defining a flat bottom surface for supporting the filed cards and including means loosely linking said bottom elements together for contraction and expansion toward and away from each other, means operatively connected between certain of said bottom elements and said telescopic sections to efiect contraction and expansion of said bottom elements in response to the relative movements of said telescopic sections, outwardly swingable end Walls, and actuating. means connected to said end walls and said sections and extendingthe latter in response to out-- ward swinging of said end walls, said bottom elements includinga fixed central element and a series of movable elements extending from each of the opposite sides of said fixed central element, each of said movable elements including a channel-shaped member having recesses at one side of the top thereof and related projections extending from the other side and co-planar with the top thereof, said projections having edge flanges loosely received in the recesses of the adjacent bottom element of the related series to link together the elements of each series while permitting limited relative movement of said elements towards and away from each other, and said fixed central element having recesses at the opposite sides of the top thereof to receive the edge flanges of the projections on the next adjacent movable bottom elements.

2. A file drawer comprising a U-shaped outer section and a pair of U-shaped inner sections telescopically fitting in said outer section and slidable longitudinally toward and away from each other, said outer and inner sections being open at the top for holding filed cards visible from above, and co-planar bottom elements in said sections for supporting the filed cards and including a central, laterally extending element fixed to said outer section, a series of laterally extending movable elements extending from each of the opposite sides of said fixed central element and being movable toward and away from each other in the direction of telescoping of said sections, each of said movable elements including a channel-shaped member having recesses at one side of the top thereof and related projections extending from the other side co-planar with the top of the channel-shaped member, said projections having edge flanges loosely received in the recesses of the adjacent bottom element of the related series to link together the elements of each series While permitting limited relative movement of said elements toward and away from each other and bridging the spaces between adjacent elements when the latter are moved apart, said fixed central element having recesses at the opposite sides of the top thereof to receive the edge flanges of the projections on the next adjacent movable elements, and means connecting the outer end ones of the elements in said series of movable elements to the outer ends of the related inner sections to expand away from and contract towardsaid fixed central element in response to movement of said inner sections relative to said outer section.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 

